Protective arrangementin an easy-opening container



United States Patent 1111 3,543,961

72] invento James Ke y; 3,415,412 12/1968 Robinson et a1 1. 220/54 Ngiggigs P n Louis, Missouri 3,450,301 6/1969 Sted et al. 220/54 Dec:1968 Primary Examiner-George T. Hall Patented 1970 Attorney-Carpenter,Ostis and Lindberg [73] Assignee Container Corporation of AmericaChins)! tfi g e ABSTRACT: A container having a tubular body and a pairof corpus aware end members, at least one of the end members beingformed [54] PROTECTIVE ARRANGEMENT IN AN EASY- of metal and having aperipheral portion and a removable central panel portion with a pull tabmounted thereon, the end member being formed with a single line ofweakness on the ?ZE;L ES 2S; inner surface thereof at the juncture ofthe peripheral and the g igs. 1

central panel portlons and 1mmed1ately ad acent the tubular LS. wall ofcontainer so that when the central panel portion is Int. Cl. 865dremoved operation of the tab no protrusion of metal B65d17/24, d 0 willextend inwardly from the inner surface of the body a [50] Field ofSearch220/54, 48, distance substantially greater than the thickness of themetal in the peripheral portion. The single line of weakness in theinner surface of the end member is formed by placing the end [56]References cued member against a stationary support member having acutting UNITED STATES PATENTS element and forcing the end member againstthe cutting ele- 3,338,l99 8/ 1967 Taylor 1 13/15 ment by operation of amovable compression member.

I I \l 20 I I8 i I i I i 20 Patented 1, 1970 3,543,961

' INVENTORS.

JAMES EKENNEDY JAMES R. POUND HEB/5.

am L 12M PROTECTIVE ARRANGEMENT IN AN EASY-OPENING CONTAINER BACKGROUND'OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to acontainer of the easy-opening type having a tubular body formed offibreboard or metal and a pair of end members, at least one of which isformed of metal and having a pull tab mounted thereon for easy-openingof the container and, more particularly, to a container of the typedescribed having an arrangement for protecting the users hand wheninserted into the opened container.

2. Description of the Prior Art In the present day-packaging industrythere is'a growing trend to produce containersof the-easy-opening' typewhereby the central panel portion of an end member, or end wall, may bereadily detached and removed from'the remaining portion without usingseparate container opening equipment. A problem which has arisen inconnection with containers having this feature relates to the danger ofcuts and abrasions to the user who may insert his hand into thecontainer after it has been opened. It is likely that the user's handwill be .cut because of its contact with a free, raw protrusion of metalextending from the remaining portion of the end wall into the openingcreated by removal of the central panel portion.

Various means have been experimented with'by the packaging industry toovercome this problem, such means included various separate shieldingdevices incorporated into the container to shield the metal protrusionsfrom the users hands. Since in many of these protective devices separateparts were necessary, the cost of manufacture and assembly of acompleted container has become uneconomical.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION by operation of a movable compression member.The end member has a peripheral portion and a removable central panelportion, the line of weakness being formed on the inner surface of theend member at the juncture of the peripheral portion with the centralpanel portion and immediately adjacent the wall of the container sothat, when the'central panel portion is removed, no protrusion of metalwill extend in+ wardly from the container walla distance substantiallygreater than the thickness of the metal in the peripheral portion.

DRAWING FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a container embodying the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the container illustrated in FIG. 1 andshowing thecentral panel portion removed from the container;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken generally alongthe line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, of a portion of thecontainer before removal of the central panel portion of the end member;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, of aportion of thecontainer shown in FIG. 4, but after removal of the central panelportion of the end member; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a portion'of the apparatus used to formthe line of weakness in the container shown in FIG. 1.

While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many differentforms, there is shown in the drawing and will herein be described indetail, an embodiment of the invention with thegunderstanding that thepresent disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of theprinciples of the invention and is not intended to limit the inventionto the embodiment illustrated. The scope of the invention will bepointed out in the appended claims.

Referring now to the drawing for a better understanding of theinvention, it will be seen'that a container, embodying the presentinvention, is generally designated 10 and has a tubular body 12 whichmay be formed of either paperboard or metal. The tubular body is closedby a pair of end members 14 secured to the ends thereof by means wellknown in the art. The end members are normally formed of metal, such assteel or aluminum.

As best seen in FIGS. 1-3, one of the end members 14 '(only the upperend member being shown in the drawing) has a peripheral portion 16which'is secured to the top edge of the body 12 by conventional means. Aremovable central panel portion 18 is integrally formed with theperipheral portion 16 and detachably joined to the inner edge thereofalong an uninterrupted single line of weakness 20 formed on the innersurface of the end member 14. It will be observed, from FIGS-3- '5, thatthe line of weakness 20 is located immediately adjacent the innersurface of the body 12 for the purposes to be explained in detail later.

The removable central panel portion 18 has a pull tab 22 mounted thereonby a rivet 24 formed from material of the removable central panelportion 18 by means well known in the packaging industry.

As best seen in FIGS. I and 3, a nose 26 of the pull tab 22 ispositioned in an overlying relationship to the line of weakness 20,while a ring segment 28 of the pull tab extends toward the center of theremovable panel portion.

In opening the container, the user inserts his finger through the ringsegment 28 and by exerting a slight lift on the ring seglustratedin FIG.2.- Y

' Referring now to FIG. 6, there is'shown a portion of an apparatus,generally designated 30, the apparatus being used in the formation ofthe line of weakness 20 in the end member 14. The apparatus 30 includesa stationary support member 32 which has a cutting element 34 formed inthe top surface thereof. The supportmernber receives the end member 14in such a manner that the point of the end member representing thejuncture between the peripheral portion 16 and the removable centralpanel portion 18 is located directly against the cutting element 34. Acompression member 36 is positioned above the support member 32 and ismovable in a vertical direction so that, when it is moved in a downwarddirection, will sandwich the end'member 14 between the compressionmember 36and the support member 32. This operation'will cause thecutting element 34 to be forced into the end member 14 whereby a cutwill be made into the end member 14 representing the line of weakness20.

Referring now to FIG. 5, it can be observed that by having the line 'ofweakness 20 positioned at the juncture of the peripheral portion 16 withthe central panel portion 18 and immediately adjacent the inner surfaceof the body 12, the removal of the central panel portion 18 will notproduce produce a protrusion of metal extending inwardly from theperipheral portion 16. Thus, the size of the opening will approximatethe diameter or cross section of the body 12 less the thickness of metalin the peripheral portion 16. Therefore, a user, desiring to insert hishand into the opened container, will not be subjected to cuts andabrasions normally associated with easy'opening containers.

The formation of the line of weakness on the inner surface of the endmember 14 by operation of apparatus 30 facilitates easy rupture of metaland removal of the central panel portion since the metal tears easiestin the direction in which it was to weakening being formed while themetal is under compression provided by the compression member 36 Thecompression in the metal tends to hold the metal fibre structuretogether and avoid fractures causing minute metal particles which maymix with the product, packaged in the container to make the productunusable. We claim:

1. In a protective arrangement for a container of the easyopening typehaving a tubular body, a pair of end members secured to the oppositeends of said body, at least one of said end members being formed ofmetal and comprising:

a. a peripheral portion secured to an end edge of said body;

b. a removable central panel portion detachably joined to saidperipheral portion along an uninterrupted single line of weakness;

c. said central panel portion having a pull tab mounted thereon with thetip of said tab substantially overlying and being in alinement with saidline of weakness for rupturing said panel at said line of weakness;

. said single line of weakness being located on an inner surface of saidend member at a juncture of said central panel portion with saidperipheral portion and immediately adjacent an inner surface of saidbody to facilitate removal of said central panel portion by operation ofsaid pull tab for opening said container;

. the operation of said pull tab causing said central panel portion tobe characterized by the absence of horizontally inwardly extendingelements, and being characterized in that said operation causes allremanent portions of said end member being in said peripheral portionand extending downward.

